Nov. 9: John Carter Cash / Photos Special to the Register

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Nov. 8: 'An Evening with Mary Swander'

Wednesday: NPR host Michele Norris

Tuesday: Art historian Wanda Corn

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Book clubs have different ways of choosing what to read — by vote, by consensus, by taking turns.

But the process is a little different for the annual Wonder of Words Festival, which is like a book club for the whole community. If somebody has a good idea and can help sponsor it, organ­izers at the Des Moines Public Library and Down­town Community Alliance happily add it to the list.

So this year, Drake University invited Michele Norris from National Public Radio. The library foundation invited Amy Tan. Mere­dith Corp. and Coors are bringing in John Carter Cash, and Des Moines Performing Arts is putting on a play for kids.

It’s an improvement on last year’s inaugural festival, where an authors’ fair was “great at attracting authors but not so great at attracting crowds,” DCA chief Glenn Lyons said.

Planners bumped this year’s festival later, after Halloween, and want to let folks know that it’s not just for writers. It’s for readers, too. (So if you’re reading this article: Congratulations! You already qualify.)

The community part­ner­ships resulted in a hodgepodge of events, with at least one or two events to suit every taste. Find more details at www.wonderofwordsfest.com.

• A touring exhibition of tiny books — some new, some historic — opens at the Central Library, courtesy of the Iowa Center for the Book. It’s a project of the national Miniature Book Society, whose members make and collect books that range in size from postage stamps to Post-Its — and may or may not transport them in a tiny bookmobile. Open during regular library hours: 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday (closed Saturday) at 1000 Grand Ave. Free.

• Doug Bauer’s latest memoir, “What Happens Next? Matters of Life and Death,” was inspired by the meals his mother cooked every noon for her farmer husband and father-in-law. From there he reflects on love and other hungers, the less­ons of aging, and his friend­ship with the famous food writer M.F.K. Fisher. Bauer’s previous credits include the novel “The Book of Famous Iowans,” as well as the nonfiction book “Prairie City, Iowa.” 4 p.m. at the Central Library. Free.

• Local author Jim Autry and his wife, former Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson, discuss their new book, “Choosing Gratitude 365 Days a Year,” which their editor describes as “hon­est, genuine and utterly without platitudes.” Noon at the Central Library. Free.

• Art historian Wanda Corn, who teaches at Stanford University, sheds light on “The Three Lives of Grant Wood’s ‘American Gothic’” at Simpson College. The event is sponsored by the coll­ege’s Iowa History Cen­ter, which this summer brought a 25-foot sculp­ture of the “Gothic” couple to the campus, where it remains through December. 7 p.m. at Simpson’s Kent Campus Center, 701 N. C St., Indianola. Free.

• A pub(lishers) crawl wanders through down­town for short talks and readings. Raygun cloth­ing shop found­er Mike Draper starts things off with selections from his book “The Midwest: God’s Gift to Planet Earth” at 5 p.m. at the Red Monk, 210 Fourth St. From there the crawl visits Fark.com founder Drew Curtis at el Bait Shop before Nadas band members Mike Butterworth and Jason Walsmith share a few of their literary favorites at the High Life Lounge. Bonus: The crawl’s fearless leader is Scott Siepker, the Iowa Nice Guy. Free. Jump in whenever, wherever you want.

• NPR host Michele Norris (whose listeners know it’s pronounced “MEE-shell”) drew on her years of interviews with world leaders, Nobel laureates and others to create “The Race Card Project” in 2010, which helped kick-start a national dialogue about race and politics. Her first book, “The Grace of Silence,” digs into her own multi­racial roots. 7:30 p.m. at Drake Univer­sity’s Sheslow Auditor­ium, 2507 University Ave. Free.

• The San Francisco poet Camille Dungy leads a talk at 4:15 p.m. and then reads from her work at 8 p.m. at Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery in the Bucks­baum Center for the Arts, 1108 Park St., Grinnell. Free.

• Poets from Simpson College team up with area middle-schoolers in the RunDSM writers’ group for a public reading at 7 p.m. at Wooly’s, 504 E. Locust St. $5.

• Des Moines Business Record columnist and former Register writer Dave Elbert discusses his new book, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,” a history of local eco­nomic development and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. He’ll be joined by Christopher Meade, author of “Magicians of Main Street: The History of Chambers of Commerce in America.” 5 p.m. at the Temple for Performing Arts, 1011 Locust St. Free.

• “An Evening with Mary Swander” spot­lights two staged read­ings of work by the Iowa poet laureate. The first, “Vang,” stitches together stories of the state’s Dutch, Hmong, Mexican and Sudanese immi­grants. The second work, “Driving the Body Back,” is a narrative poem Swander based on family stories her godmother told her on a trip to retrieve Swander’s mother’s body for burial in the family’s home­town. 7 p.m. at the Temple for Performing Arts, 1011 Locust St. $20.

• Des Moines Perform­ing Arts presents a children’s play called “Tomas and the Library Lady,” about the true story of the young son of migrant workers who came every summer to Iowa to pick crops. The local librarian encour­aged him to read; he taught her some Spanish. Win-win. 10:30 a.m. at the Temple for Performing Arts. $5.

• John Carter Cash, the only son of Johnny and June, shares stories and songs about his famous parents. The self-described “father, music producer, musician, author, songwriter, fisher­man, hunter, adventurer, snow skier, canoeist, hiker, spear fisherman, outdoors­man, Muppeteer and early riser” has worked with Loretta Lynn, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill and others. He was the executive producer of the 2006 Oscar winner “Walk the Line” and has written a book about each of his parents. 7:30 p.m. at Wooly’s, 504 E. Locust St. $25.

• Four writers in the WoW! Voices series tell “stories of diverse human experience” starting at 1 p.m. with Jenny Barker Devine, author of “On Behalf of the Family: Iowa Farm Women’s Activism since 1945.” Pat Mora speaks at 2 p.m. about her research, poetry and children’s books about Latinos. Will Fellows speaks at 3 p.m. about his book “Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men in the Rural Midwest.” And Emily Rapp rounds out the lineup at 4 p.m. with a word on new best-seller, “The Still Point of the Turning World,” about her infant son’s fatal struggle with Tay-Sachs disease. She herself was born with a congenital defect and had her left leg amputated when she was 4. Central Library. Free.

• Amy Tan discusses her first novel in eight years, “The Valley of Amazement,” which was inspired by her grandmother’s life in Shang­hai. The author’s previous titles about cross-cultural families include “The Joy Luck Club,” “The Kitchen God’s Wife” and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter.” 3 p.m. at Hoyt Sherman Place, 1501 Woodland Ave. Free.

• State Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids discusses his book, “America’s Climate Century,” which argues that climate change is the biggest challenge of the 21st century. The 120-page book “will help you get from zero to well-informed in a matter of hours,” according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. 6:30 p.m. at the Franklin Avenue Library, 5000 Franklin Ave. Free.